Choosing which new flavor ideas to develop

The question

A spirits brand was looking for its next flavor innovations, and it wanted to start wide.

It had two questions to answer, in order: which directions deserved development, and what each would need to work for drinkers in different countries. Those answers had to come from consumers in more than one market.

Our approach

We ran both stages, the sprint and the consumer work, so the ideas and drinkers’ response to them belonged to one program.

The sprint brought the brand’s team together across markets to generate ideas and develop the most promising. Those were workshop outputs: ideas worth developing, none of them yet put to a consumer.

In the consumer stage, directions became concepts and were explored with drinkers in three markets. Every direction met the same three questions everywhere: what worked, what stood in the way, and what would have to change for it to work better.

That shared frame meant each direction could be read on the same terms, country by country.

What the team came away with

The innovation team had the sprint’s outputs and an evaluation of every direction, setting out its strengths, its barriers and what would need to change.

The work ended in a shortlist for development, so the team had a clear place to begin.